Poor Lung Capacity In 8 Of 10 Delhi Children, Youth

February 8, 2018

New Delhi: In New Delhi, India’s capital and its most polluted city, eight of every 10 children and youth below 20 years of age living in areas with constantly polluted air have poor lung capacity, according to a study by Hazards Center, a Delhi-based advocacy.

These findings come at a time when data on the health effects of air pollution are being denied by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. There were no conclusive data to establish a direct or exclusive correlation between death/disease and air pollution, said Mahesh Sharma, minister of state for environment, in a response to the Rajya Sabha (upper house of Parliament) on February 5, 2018.

Particulate matter pollution monitored over 15 locations across the capital this winter–between October 10, 2017 and January 10, 2018–along with the peak flow tests conducted on 343 children and youth under 20 living in 11 out of 15 monitored locations revealed that 80% of the sample population had unhealthy or below-normal lung functioning.

Peak flow tests are a simple way to measure lung strength by assessing how fast one can blow air out. Normal values for a paediatric sample of children in the European Union were taken as a base for the test.

That Delhi’s youth do not measure up to a European normal can partly be “due to the demographic differences between the European Union and India, but one would not expect such a large difference in the city with the highest per capita income in the nation”, said the study.

Air quality data from the areas included in the study reveal a base pollution load of about 200 µg/m3 for PM 2.5 and 300 µg/m3 for PM 10, almost three times the national standard.

This pollution can be traced only to sources within Delhi, such as transport and construction, the report said.

Rising air pollution in a metropolis such as Delhi–and even small cities like Ranchi–is leading to rising incidences of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in the population, IndiaSpend reported on January 3, 2018.

As many as 27% of deaths in India were caused due to pollution, making it the country with the highest number of pollution-related deaths, followed by China, according to a Lancet study. Low- and middle-income groups are the worst affected by pollution; 92% of deaths due to pollution occurred in that income group, IndiaSpend reported on November 14, 2017.

New plans every winter, but no implementation

Road and construction dust, power plants and other industries–along with domestic cooking–are the biggest contributors (60%) to the rise in particulate pollution in Delhi’s air. The rest can be traced to vehicular pollution, according to a 2015 study by Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.

To deal with this, Delhi has been given a Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), the only city-specific pollution control action plan in India. It entails a number of actions to be taken as soon as the city’s air quality plunges. These include putting a stop on garbage burning, not allowing trucks to enter the city, shutting down power plants, and closing brick kilns and stone crushers, IndiaSpend reported on December 22, 2017.

“The Graded Response Action Plan formulated hasn’t been put to use fully since its inception. Multiple organisations and bodies across Delhi seem to be advocating for new plans every winter instead of implementing what’s been put in place to mitigate the problem,” the report said.

(Tripathi is a principal correspondent with IndiaSpend.)

Courtesy: India Spend

Ankit Saxena’s Killing Should Start a Debate about What’s Wrong with Indian Muslims

February 8, 2018

The brutal murder of Ankit Saxena, whose only fault seems to be that he was in love with a Muslim girl, must be condemned by one and all. If one thought the honour killings were something which only the Khaps do, then this incident is an eye opener to the fact that it is practiced in almost all the communities. After all, caste and religious communities are deeply patriarchal too and therefore codes of masculine honour run very deep in these communities. Whereas women’s bodies are considered the sites of honour, it is the men of the community who take upon themselves to protect that honour thereby denying any agency to women within their respective communities.

We lived in very troubled times where notions of secularism and justice are continuously negotiated through identities. That there was no march against this barbarism is a testament to the warped understanding of secularism which we practice today. The custodians of secularism see such honour killings only through the majoritarian or the dominant caste lens, thereby completely denying the existence of similar problems within minority communities. This kind of politics in the long run will only turn counter-productive and will be detrimental for the well- being of minorities, particularly Muslims in India.

If not the secular lobby, then the Muslims should have been at the forefront of leading demonstrations against such barbarism committed by its one of their own. It is a very sorry state of affairs that while we care so much for Hadiya and her freedom of choice, the many Hadiyas within our own community are denied the very same freedoms. But when the practice of secularism has meant protection of all kinds of regressive behaviour within Muslims and the Muslims themselves have internalised it, then it is perhaps too much to expect that things will change for the better in the near future.

It is appalling to see some of the comments on social media which the secular lobby and the Muslim apologists have made. While they are partly right in asserting that there is no need to draw an equivalence between targeted killings of Muslims like Pahlu Khan which is a product of certain ideology, they forget that regimes of honour killings exists among Muslims too. Certainly, there is no movement amongst the Muslims to defend the killers as we see in the case of Shambhulal Raigar, but that does not mean that we shut our eyes and ears to the question of acute gender discrimination in our community.

Actually this should have provided the occasion to debate what is wrong within our community, instead the whole energy of the community has gone into proving how this case should not be equated with cases like that of Pahlu Khan and other Muslims who have been killed in the name of love jihad. What is more troublesome are those voices from within the community who refuse to believe that this is a structural issue within the community. Rather, the argument is that this should be treated as an aberration and should be located within the criminality of that particular family who committed this act of barbarity. It is the same people who were arguing how the killings of Muslims were part of a pattern which arose from ideological indoctrination of the Hindu Right wing and that it should not be seen as an isolated incident. In borrowing the language of Right Wing Hindutva forces, the Muslims and the seculars need to decide whether this strategy will do their politics any good in the long run.

There is a need to acknowledge that problem exists and that scores of Muslim girls are not afforded the choice of marrying out of their own volition. Compounded with this is the indoctrination which goes in the mind of every Muslim child that Islam is the best religion and therefore even if a girl chooses to marry outside the community, the man has to necessarily convert to Islam. If we agree that this amounts to ideological indoctrination and yet we are absolutely fine with it, then I do not understand why we should have a problem with the ideological indoctrination carried on the Hindu Right wing forces. Failure to recognise this only makes us hypocritical and open to allegations that we practice double standards.

Certainly, this is not the first case of honour killing associated with the Muslim community. Neither is it going to be the last. In Kolkata in 2012, a Muslim brother severed the head her sister for being in a relationship with another Muslim man, but which the family did not approve of. He took the severed head of his sister to the police station as a trophy and surrendered without any remorse. That women are considered properties of their respective families and communities applies equally to Muslims.

Only through a reasoned and empathetic debate can we arrive at a solution to this problem of honour killings. But all such discussion will have to keep the individual’s choice at the forefront. Muslims themselves should take the lead to initiate such a discussion within their community. Democracy and secularism are not for others to practice but rather it is the minorities who should be at the forefront of all such struggles. Sadly, it is us, the Muslim minority, which has very acute deficit of democracy and choice within our own community.

Arshad Alam is a NewAgeIslam.com columnist.

Courtesy: NewAgeIslam

‘We Will Not Let Girls be Born or Let Them Study’ Say Khaps

February 8, 2018

The Khap Panchayats believe it is their duty to protect their age old traditions and the court has no business interfering in their decisions.

Newsclick Image by Nitesh Kumar

Two days after the Supreme Court lambasted Khaps for acting like “conscience keeper (of the society)” and punishing interfaith and inter-caste couples, leaders of unofficial community organisation representing a clan or a group of related clans have said the top court has no right to interfere in their business. Terming the apex court’s observation as “ghinauna” (despicable), they threatened them “will not let girl children to be born if the judiciary continues to make such judgments that are against their traditions”.

Hearing a petition seeking a ban on ‘khap panchayats’ (self-appointed village courts in parts of north India), which believe it is their duty to protect “thousands-year-old traditions” and pass order to punish couples who marry against their families’ wishes, Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra on February 5 said when two adults marry, no one has the right to interfere.

“Whether it is parents, society or anyone, they are out of it. No one, either individual or collective, or group, has the right to interfere with the marriage,” said the CJI directing the Centre to come up with effective suggestions to protect such couples.

The petitioner Shakti Vahini, a non-profit organisation (NGO), has asked for a ban on ‘honour killings’ – the killing of a relative, especially a girl or a woman, who is perceived to have brought dishonour on the family by marrying without their parents’ consent.

Following the SC’s observation, khap leaders clearly said the apex court has no right to interfere in their traditions and that they will never let their daughters marry with a person of her choice.

“We respect the honourable Supreme Court, we also respect some of their observations but the judge must think before passing any judgement and making observations. Why are they taking such a ghinauna (despicable) decision? Why are they hell-bent to end our thousands of year-old culture and tradition? Who has given them the right to interfere in our traditions? We will not tolerate it at all,” Naresh Tikait of the Balyan Khap told Newsclick.

He threatened, “We will not let girls be born or let them study if these kinds of orders are passed by the Supreme Court. What will happen then? To what extent will the SC go?”

“We let our girls study and spend lakhs of rupees on their education. Why will we allow them to marry whoever they want? We won’t let them do this at any cost,” he said.

Malik Khap chief Rajbir Singh Malik said the Supreme Court’s might be influenced by the ‘vulgar exhibition of modernity in cosmopolitan cities’. “They (the judges) must understand that village life is different, and we are bound by our traditions,” he added.

Spokesperson of the petitioner – Shakti Vahini – declined to comment adding that “it’s not fair to give any statement at this juncture when the matter is subjudice”.

Killings in the name of ‘honour’ are still common enough among Hindus and Muslims to regularly make newspaper headlines in a country where most marriages are arranged by families. Men and women are murdered in India every year by their family members for bringing “shame” to the family by eloping,
fraternising with men or any other infraction against conservative social values. These incidents are termed as honour killings, which have witnessed a sharp rise of around 800 percent in 2016 in India – according to figures presented in the previous session of Parliament.

As per a statement made by Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir in the Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament) on December 5 last year, a total of 251 cases of honour killings were registered in 2015 as against 28 cases lodged in 2014 when the government began counting them separately from murder. The number given by him was based on the data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on November 30.

The surge could partly reflect more willingness by people to report such crimes, which many still consider just punishment for women and men who defy communal customs by marrying outside of their religion, clan, or caste.

Women’s rights activists say the government must pass legislation to recognise the crime as “unique” so that perpetrators can be prosecuted.

“The government should take it as a priority. Though the police now count these killings separately, some police officers still record such cases in the larger murder category and do not probe into it in absence of a separate law defining such crimes,” said All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) Vice President Sudha Sundararaman.

The separate category to record cases of honour killing was created after ‘sustained campaign by women’s groups’, said senior Supreme Court lawyer Kirti Singh, so that a real picture of the heinous crime can be ascertained. “But there are still many cases that go unreported,” she said.

Most of the cases are reported from northern Indian states like Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, where caste councils wield enormous power in village life.

The highest number of such killings recorded in 2016 was in Uttar Pradesh, where 131 cases were recorded compared with just two cases in 2014, Ahir said, citing the NCRB data.

Activists question the figures terming it an “underestimation”. They claim – on the basis of a study they had conducted in 2011 – on an average, 900 people are killed every year in India in the name of ‘honour’.

Annie Raja of the National Federation of Indian Women explains the reason why the NCRB data is an “underestimation”. “Such cases are not generally reported because families feel ashamed to bring them on record,” she said.

The situation, said Raja, has worsened in the past few years. “There is an increasing trend that village elders promoting conservative, anti-women values in the name of preserving Indian culture and tradition. The society is unwilling to accept the choices made by young women when it comes to their marriage,” she added.

The Supreme Court, also in January last year, had termed attacks by khap panchayats on adult man and woman opting for inter-caste marriage as “absolutely illegal”.

Courtesy: Newsclick.in

Muslims guarded Temples, Police Investigation biased: Kasganj Violence Report

February 7, 2018

Judicial Probe, Stopping Harassment of Innocents and Arrest of Abandoned Bike Owners: Fact Finding by AIPF demands

A fact finding study conducted byAll India People’s Forum (AIPF)has demanded a judicial inquiry and close monitoring of the investigation of the violence that erupted at Kasganj, Uttar Pradesh. A report released by United Against Hate in Delhi on Monday showed that Muslims in Kasganj protected temples and property and alleges that the police investigation so far appears biased

A new fact-finding report into the sectarian violence in Kasganj has accused the local police of being biased against members of the Muslim community during the ongoing investigation into the sectarian clashes which ended up in the death of Chandan Gupta on January 26.

“The way the police investigation is going on also reflects clear bias and prejudice and that is acting as a deterrent for people to come forward and lodge individual cases of assault and damage,” the report, Trail of Engineered Hate and Violence: Findings from a visit to Kasganj, released on Monday, says.

The investigation further notes that the first FIR (59/2018) in the wake of the clashes on Jan 26 names all Muslims—Nasiruddin, Akram, Akshat Khan and Taufiq. “But not a single Hindu was named in the FIR, although the report mentions both communities were involved in the clash,” it adds.

The fact-finding team, under the banner of United Against Hate, from Lucknow and Delhi visited Kasganj on February 2. Former Uttar Pradesh Police IG SR Darapuri, social activist Rakhi Sehgal, former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) President Mohit Pandey and United Against Hate members were part of the team among others.
Besides two mosques, the report highlighted that all 27 business establishments that were set on fire belonged to Muslims. “No temple or Hindu property has been damaged,” it says.

“In fact, the Chamunda Temple, located in a Muslim-dominated area, was protected by Muslims of the area. There is an HP gas agency located behind the Chamunda Temple, and the Muslims protected that too,” the nine-page document adds.

“Despite Muslim-owned establishments being in the line of fire of rampaging mobs, there was no police presence in predominantly Hindu localities. On the other hand, cops are manning Muslim neighbourhoods day in, day out,” the report says.

The fact finding team comprised of comprising senior journalists and activists John Dayal and Kiran Shaheen, activist Leena Dabiru, AIPWA Secretary Kavita Krishnan, Kisan Mahasabha Vice-President Prem Singh Gehlawat (all of whom are members of the Central Campaign Team of the AIPF) as well as student activists from AISA, JNU – Vijay Kumar and Tabrez Ahmad.
Though it started on February 6, it was interrupted on February 7 around noon after police waylaid the team near the Kasganj District Jail, accused it of violating Section 144, detained it in a Mahila Police Thana for about an hour and then escorted it out of the district. After this, the team also visited Aligarh and met Akram, who lost an eye in the mob attack, and Chhotan, who lies unconscious since January 28, 2018 in JN Medical College Hospital Aligarh.

Questions around Chandan Gupta’s murder
The report by the fact finding team has highlighted several questions that surrounded Chandan Gupta’s death. The report mentions that as per eye witness accounts there was no blood around the spot where his body was found. The eyewitnesses said that on January 26, as ABVP’s Sankalp mob was passing through the tehsil, wielding guns and weapons, parents of girl students of the GGIC school, fearing their children’s safety started pelting stones. It highlighted that the parents were from different communities. About the arrests of the accused, the report said, “Salim and two of his brothers, owners of the Barki Cloth Shop are accused of Chandan Gupta’s murder – only Salim has yet been arrested. But many questions surround this allegation also.”

Noting some discrepancies in the police version of the incident, the report added, “Police claim that the bullets that killed Chandan were fired from Salim’s balcony or rooftop – but the distance from Salim’s house and the spot where Chandan’s body was found makes that difficult to believe. Moreover, the manner in which the bullets reportedly entered Chandan’s body also make it unlikely that the bullets were fired from a rooftop so far away.”

The fact finding team also reported that the eye-witnesses said that the police picked up and brandished something in Salim’s house claiming it was a ‘US made gun’ that was used to shoot Chandan Gupta. The supposed gun turned out to be a toy lighter. This happened in the presence of journalists. It added that though the two licenced guns belonging to Salim were also taken from his house, but the bullets found in Chandan reportedly may not match these guns, which are 12-bore guns. Since then, the police has also reportedly claimed that Chandan was killed with a desi charra/kata. However, the team believed that such a gun would lack the power top shoot from a distance and also questioned, “Why would a man who owned two licenced guns choose to use a less powerful desi katta instead?”

The case of Chhotan
It mentions the case of Chhotan, a 45 year old labourer battling death in Aligarh Hospital. He had left his home in GanjDundwara near Kasganj on January 28, 2018 on his cycle for his daily work of selling chicken. He has suffered head injury and had to be admitted to JN Medical College.
Though an FIR has been filed, the fact finding team asked, “What efforts and progress have the police made to find the perpetrators of this murderous attack on Chhotan – a defenseless labourer who was not part of any procession or riot, and whose only fault that he is a poor Muslim who needed to earn a living? What has the District Administration and Government of Uttar Pradesh done to compensate Chhotan and his family, for whom survival as well as medical care has been dependant on charity since the sole earning member lies unconscious and, even if he survives, is unlikely to be fit for work for several months?

Harassment of Innocent
The report draws attention to the harassment of innocent people including juveniles who have been picked up in the aftermath of the incident. It visited the Kasganj District Jail and reported that both the jailer and district administration refused for a meeting with prisoners.
The team met several Hindu and Muslim families whose relatives appear to have been jailed in spite of being completely innocent and uninvolved in the violence. Here is a brief record of the team’s interaction with these families:

Anuj Tomar: Alok Timar, Anuj Tomar’s brother said that his brother Anuj was picked up from near his home in Canara Bank lane, Luvkush Nagar, Kasganj, in the afternoon of January 27 2018, when he had stepped out to buy medicine for their ailing father. He was told by cops stationed there that all shops were closed so he should return. As he turned back, some police cars drove up and picked him up. He was taken away without informing his family. The FIR where the SHO Ripudaman Singh is the complainant, claims that Anuj was identified and arrested on 27 January at 11.40 am where he along with a mob had indulged in arson and vandalism of a furniture shop at AmapurAdda.
Raj Singh Yadav: Rajvir Singh, father of Raj Singh told the team that his son Raj is a compounder at Dr Naveen Gaur’s clinic. On January 27 he and another compounder there were closing the shutters of the clinic after being warned that it would not be safe to keep it open, when the police came and arrested both.

But Raj’s colleague who belongs to the LodaRajpur (LR) caste – the same caste to which the sitting BJP MP Rajbir Singh and the VHP State President PramodJaju belong – was booked under Section 151 and released on bail, while Raj was booked under Sections 147, 148, 149, 336, 436, 427, 34 IPC and Section 7 of the UAPA. The same FIR by SHO Ripudaman Singh claims that Raj was identified and arrested at noon at Ghantaghar where he along with a mob had been involved in arson and vandalism at a shoe shop. Rajvir Singh points out that while the FIR claims Raj was ‘identified’, it does not mention his father’s name or full address, simply saying ‘Raj, Paisoi, Soron, Kanshiram Nagar).

Imran Khan: Firoz, father of Imran Khan, who runs a meat shop and hotel at BilramGate,told the team that he was picked up by police on the street. Firoz is a labourer in Gujarat, and has rushed home because of this calamity. Firoz says Imran neither participated in the flag hoisting event at Abdul Hamid Chowk nor in any violence whatsoever.
Nasiruddin ‘Chawal Vale’: Mahiru and Mehak, two young girls told the team that their 65 year old father Nasiruddin ‘Chawal vale’ was at his rice shop when he was picked up by the police on January 28 2018. Their 16-year-old brother who had been having a bath, was made to dress and was also taken away on the pretext of questioning. Both have been booked under Sections 302 and 307 among others, and jailed. It appears that the 16-year-old has also been kept in the adult jail in violation of the JJ Act, since we noted at the District Jail that the enclosure for Juveniles was locked and reportedly had no occupants. Their mother has been paralysed for the past 4 months and since the arrest, has been unconscious.
One rickshaw puller Shamshad has also been falsely accused – eyewitnesses aver that if the CCTV cameras outside St Joseph’s School for 26 January are checked, he can be seen dropping kids off at the school for the Republic Day celebrations.
One youth – tempo driver Mohsin – picked up from a mosque was reportedly beaten up by some prisoners in the jail.

A case of Abandoned Bikes:
The report quotes Rajvir Singh, father of Raj Singh who is languishing in jail, “The ABVP-Sankalp men rode motorbikes in the ‘TirangaYatra’ and came and demanded that the Muslims hoisting the tricolour at Abdul Hamid Chowk must also hoist the saffron flag. The Muslims refused and there was a clash, in which the ABVP mob (which at that point did not have guns) was forced to beat a retreat: several of whom abandoned dozens of motorbikes (reportedly around 60) which are now at the police station. The same people later met BJP leaders and regrouped, armed themselves with guns and sticks, and rode to the tehsil where Chandan’s body was found”

The report questioned, “Why has the police not yet arrested even one of the men who own those abandoned motorbikes? Those men were surely part of the violent mob who have destroyed our Kasganj and its peace, and if these men are caught they can identify their other companions also. Instead, the police is just picking up innocents.”
The team said that finding the riders of the abandoned bikes may be key to find the actual perpetrators of the crime.

Police Bias alleged in Arrests:
The team reported that there were clear instances of caste and communal bias on part of the police, youth were being indiscriminately arrested by the police, and the religious and caste identity of the youth determined which sections they would be booked under. ‘LRs’ (LodaRajputs) and other upper caste Hindus would generally be booked under Section 151 and released on bail; OBCs and Dalits would be booked under Sections 147, 148, 149, 336, 436, 427, 34 IPC and Section 7 of the UAPA; and Muslims would, in addition to the above sections, also have Sections 307 (attempt to murder) and in some cases 302 (murder) booked against them.

The team asked, “When there is no evidence whatsoever of any pre-planned murderous intent and organized violence on part of Muslims why are they being booked for the murder of Chandan Gupta and attempted murder of others? Akram lost an eye, Naushad got a bullet in his thigh, Chhotan survived a murderous attack – yet no one has been booked on attempt to murder charges for these attacks – why?

The team was given a partial list of 30 properties (shops, homes, mosques) that were subjected to arson, vandalism, and loot; there are reportedly at least 15 more. We were told that in most of these cases, the police is refusing to file FIRs. Note that Hindus and Muslims alike told us that NOT A SINGLE HINDU SHOP OR TEMPLE was subjected to any arson or any violence whatsoever.

At least three mosques have been burned and looted. On the morning of 6 February also, a mosque at GanjDundwara was burnt down – the incident is reported in local papers of 7 February 2018.

Police Bias- And a Heart-Warming Friendship
The team witnessed a startling case of police bias about two friends Khalid and Pradeep, both from Badayun. Their advocate Hasin Ahmad told the team that Khalid (son of Munnan Khan) and Pradeep (son of Chaturi), both from Shahbazpur, thana Sahawasan, district Badayun, were riding through Kasganj on a scooter, going to see Khalid’s grandmother at BilramKasba. They were stopped by the police. Khalid (FIR number 59/2018) was booked under sections 307, as well as 147, 148, 149, 336, 436, 427, 34 IPC and Section 7 of the UAPA; while Pradeep was booked under 151 CrPC only and offered to be released on bail. Pradeep, however, refused to accept the release and opted to go to jail with his friend Khalid.
The team highlighted many cases of Hindu Muslim solidarity despite the communal tension

Demands:
Apart from the demand for judicial enquiry, the team has objected to the arrests of innocents on a mass scale without any credible evidence. It has asked for compensation for families of injured. It also demanded that the owners of the bikes stationed at Abdul Hamid Chowk as well as ABVP Sankalp men who were visibly brandishing weapons in video footage, must be arrested and booked for masterminding the violence. BJP leaders including the MP of Kasganj who made inflammatory speeches must also be arrested and booked without delay. It said that a team of juvenile justice board members as well as social activists and lawyers must be allowed to meet all those jailed without delay, so that it can be verified whether any juvenile is in the adult jail; and whether any prisoner has been attacked by any other prisoner.

They killed Gauri because she was Alive..!

February 7, 2018

Video Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

A touching compilation of small poems & powerful words by writers who Love Freedom.

on Gauri & what she stood for.

Dakshinayana Convention at Wardha, A Multilingual Tribute to Gauri, 29 January 2018

Communal Cauldron: Dalit-Muslim Tensions Brewing in Gautam Nagar, UP

February 7, 2018

Posts on social media and local newspaper clippings allege a conspiracy to change the name of the area from Gautam Nagar to Islamnagar, stoking and provoking a Dalit-Muslim divide.

UP under Adityanath continues to simmer with the communal cauldron recently exploding in central UP’s Kasganj, not far from Aligarh. Now it’s back to Amroha district in western Uttar Pradesh, not far from the nation’s capital, Delhi. Some newspaper clippings attached here as also linked to Facebook posts that are efforts to provoke a Dalit-Muslim clash in Gautam Nagar. The posts on social media allege that the boards naming the locality “Gautam Nagar” are being changed to “Islam Nagar.’

Repeated ‘stories’ of ‘forced conversions’ of Dalits to Islam in this locality with a 42 per cent Muslim concentration of population are being used to provoke and stoke communal tensions. The UP police, if aware of this, should take adequate steps, in advance. These posts are being made ‘viral’ on social media. ”42% होते ही ‘शांतिप्रिय कौम’ दलितों पर मौत बनकर मंडरा रहा है! जिग्नेश *** और बकैत पांडे, यही चाहते थे न तुम?” (“With a 42 per cent majority, this community looms like a death warrant over Dalits”.)

The posts are typically inflammatory, “Now the lives of Dalits living in Gautam Nagar are under threat and a so called ‘peaceful community who’s population has increased to 42 per cent is threatening to change the name of the locality from Gautam Nagar to Islam Nagar.”

Then these posts abuse those among secular politicians and young Dalit leaders who have taken a stand on communal harmony and unity. “बकैत पांडे याद है तुम्हें, तुमने पूछा था कि भारत में अल्पसंख्यक यदि बढ़ ही जाएंगे तो क्या होगा? आज तुम्हारे कलेजे को ठंड़क तो खूब मिल रही होगी! कश्मीर, करैना, मुर्शिदाबाद आदि के बाद अब गौतमनगर में तुम्हारे सपनों का देश बन रहा है! (“Bankait Pandey you had been asked what happens if the population of the minority increases? Today you will be satisfied: your dreams are coming true in Kashmir, Kairana, Murshirdabad and now Gautam Nagar.”)

माया-*** से लेकर जिग्नेश ***, और *** गांधी से ‘पेटि**-पत्रकार’ जैसे दलितों के तथाकथित हमदर्द ‘शांतिप्रिय कौम’ के टुकड़ों (अरबी-आईएसआई फंडेड ‘पाक-मनी’) पर पलते हैं ताकि दलितों का खून पीया जा सके और उन्हें ‘शांतिप्रिय कौम’ में धर्मांतरित कराया जा सके!” (Maya..and Jignesh…, from Gandhi to –journalists, all the friends of this ‘peaceful community’ are funded on Pak money are happy that Dalit blood is sucked through conversions)

The posts go on to abuse the Muslim community for its stand on the Khilafat movement and also abuse it for its stand in Malabar, distorting history completely.

Finally these posts and articles completely ridicule efforts at Dalit-Muslim unity, be it secularists, socialists, Ambedkarites and taunt the Muslim community in the name of being ‘peace-loving.’

In Kasganj recently, the social media had a hand in fomenting violence further. There is a huge responsibility on the UP Police’s Cyber Cell, too. There should be an effort to get to the facts on the ground and curtail these efforts to stoke passions.

Kindergarteners in Hebron protest Israel’s detention of 350 children

February 7, 2018

Yesterday Palestinian kindergarteners protested Israel’s jailing of 350 Palestinian children, in a march organized by the Hebron-based group Human Rights Defenders and the Palestinian residents of Shuhada Street. Israel detains children as young as 12 years old.

Palestinian children from the West Bank city of Hebron protest Israel’s detention of minors. There are 350 Palestinian children held in Israeli detention facilities. February 4, 2018. (Photo: Mashhour Wihwak)

The kindergarteners rallied for three child prisoners in particular, a young girl named Razan Abu Sal, 13, who was sentenced to 13 and a half months and a fine of $870 (3000 NIS), Shadi Farrah, 12, who has already served two years of his three year sentence, and the infamous Ahed Tamimi, 17, who was detained (at age 16) on charges of incitement and slapping an Israeli soldier. She has become a worldwide symbol of child imprisonment and the Palestinian struggle for freedom.

(Photo: Human Rights Defenders)

Israeli settler Tzippi Shissel films Palestinian children as they demonstrate in Hebron. (Photo: Human Rights Defenders)

Activists with Human Rights Defenders, Badee Dwaik and Arif Jabar, organized the rally in one of the most contentious areas of Hebron, the Tel Rumeida neighborhood where Palestinians systematically experience violence from settlers, and the Israeli soldiers in the area tend to turn a blind eye, or back up those settlers.

Badee Dwaik told the group that the demonstration marked the start of the annual campaign, “Dismantle the Ghetto,” an effort to publicize and protest the horrors of life under the illegal occupation in the city of Hebron. The campaign is a call for the lift the closures inside of the city and the suppression of its population. It will be held on the 24th anniversary of the massacre at the Ibrahimi mosque by Baruch Goldstein. On February 25, 1994, Goldstein opened fire on Palestinians worshippers inside of the mosque, killing 29.

At the demonstration the children carried signs protesting the occupation, an all encompassing-word for the abuses and indignities that are carried out against them by Israeli soldiers and settlers. They chanted, “every child deserves a childhood.” They asked the international community to protect them and for international law to be upheld. They carried banners speaking of their anger at Israel and the Western countries that support Israel’s racist, apartheid, colonial, occupation of the Palestinian people. Israel is the only country in the world today that maintains an apartheid regime.

The demonstration culminated with settler attacks on two Palestinian journalists, Du’aa Yahya al-Atrash from Ma’an television and Zidan al-Sharbat. When the event ended, Israeli soldiers prevented the children from returning to their homes.As the protest concluded, settlers approached the group. Anat Cohen, a settler notorious for slapping, kicking and yelling at activists, was filmed hitting Du’aa Yahya. Another settler, Ofer Hassan also known for his violence, attacked Human Rights Defenders’ Arif Jabar. Hassan even attempted to stop a Palestinian from filming the protest from inside his house even as he pleaded, “I am in my own home. Get out of here!”

Badee Dwaik is the Coordinator of Human Rights Defenders Group in Palestine and an activist in Hebron.

Courtesy: http://mondoweiss.net

“If poor people knew how rich rich people are, there would be riots in the streets.”

February 7, 2018

Actor and comedian Chris Rock made this astute statement during a 2014 interview with New York magazine, referring to the yawning gap between rich and poor. In so doing, he stumbled upon a key challenge in the study of inequality.

What’s the best way to measure it?

Most inequality studies have focused on income – measures of which are widely available. However, being rich is not about a single year of earnings but rather about the accumulation of wealth over time. In the past, quantifying that has been tricky.

The wealthy would probably prefer we stay in the dark about how rich they are, presumably to avoid the aforementioned riots. People like me who study the topic, however, are always looking for more data and better and more accurate ways to measure the rich-poor gap. And while I’m not one to promote violence in the streets, I do believe it’s important for citizens to be fully aware of the levels of disparity in their society.

The most revealing way to do this, in my view, is by looking at wealth inequality.

Chris Rock cited the free food, drinks and massages at the Virgin upper-class lounge at Heathrow Airport in his comments about inequality. Faruk Ateş, CC BY-NC

Measuring the rich-poor gap

There are several ways to measure inequality.

One of the most popular is by income. That’s largely because there’s more data, and it’s a lot easier to measure. But this measure is a snapshot.

Wealth, on the other hand, is an aggregation, affected not only by current income but earnings accumulated in previous years and by previous generations. Only by studying wealth inequality do scholars, policymakers and others get the deepest and broadest measure of the gap between the rich and everyone else.

How much wealth someone has is also a better measure of their quality of life and opportunities. It determines the ability to invest in education, financial assets and the comfort and security of one’s retirement. Wealth also mitigates worries about paycheck variability or unexpected expenses. If you have wealth, the sudden cost of replacing a broken water heater or paying a medical bill doesn’t cause nearly as much stress as if you’re poor.

Most of the gains from the recent tax package will accrue to the richest Americans. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

American ‘exceptionalism’

When we do look at the data on wealth inequality in the U.S., it’s stark and dwarfs that of the rest of the developed world.

The conservative Hudson Institute in 2017 reported that the wealthiest 5 percent of American households held 62.5 percent of all assets in the U.S. in 2013, up from 54.1 percent 30 years earlier. As a consequence, the wealth of the other 95 percent declined from 45.9 percent to 37.5 percent.

As a result, the median wealth of upper-income families (earning US$639,400 on average) was nearly seven times that of middle-income households ($96,500) in 2013, the widest gap in at least 30 years.

More notably, inequality scholars Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman found that the top 0.01 percent controlled 22 percent of all wealth in 2012, up from just 7 percent in 1979.

If you only looked at data on income inequality, however, you’d see a different picture. In 2013, for example, the top 5 percent of households earned just 30 percent of all U.S. income (compared with possessing nearly 63 percent of all wealth).

While the U.S. is not the only developed country that has seen wealth inequality rise over the past three decades, it is an outlier. The wealthiest 5 percent of households in the U.S. have almost 91 times more wealth than the median American household, the widest gap among 18 of the world’s most developed countries. The next highest is the Netherlands, which has a ratio less than half that.

Lifting all boats?

The recently passed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will make this problem a whole lot worse.

The main features of the law include doubling the standard deduction for individual taxpayers, a temporary reduction in the top marginal tax rate from 39.6 percent to 37 percent, a significant reduction of the number of families subject to the estate tax and slashing the top corporate rate from 35 percent to 21 percent.

The main impact, however, is skewed to the wealthy. For example, the bottom 20 percent of households will see a lower tax bill of about $40 on average, compared with $5,420 for those in the top quintile. The richest 0.1 percent, meanwhile, will save $61,920. By 2025, the richest will see their benefit grow to $152,200, while everyone else won’t see much of a change. All the individual cuts are set to expire in 2026.

Wealthier taxpayers will also gain from the other main features of the new law. For example, research shows most benefits of lowering business taxes go to the rich, and fewer estates subject to the inheritance tax means more wealth accumulation across generations.

The tax law’s proponents claim that it won’t increase levels of inequality because the money that the rich will save will “trickle down” to other American households and lift their boats too.

Empirical evidence, however, suggests otherwise. Specifically, channeling more money to the rich, via tax cuts, does not improve economic growth, worsens educational opportunities for poorer Americans and even reduces life expectancy, which declined for a second year in a row in 2017.

How rich are the rich? Chris Rock knows. mpi04/MediaPunch/IPX

Let’s learn the facts

So is Chris Rock right that Americans just aren’t aware of the levels of disparity in their society?

Surveys suggest he is. Respondents to a 2011 national survey, for example, “dramatically underestimated” levels of wealth inequality in the U.S.

The survey, and other research, also partially affirmed the other half of his quote by showing that by and large Americans do care about wealth inequality and would prefer it to be lower.

Whether existing wealth inequality in the U.S. is socially or morally sustainable – or might lead to the riots envisioned by Chris Rock – is an open question.

Whatever happens, first things first, we need to know and understand just how bad wealth inequality in the U.S. has become. What we then choose to do about it is up to all of us.

Gil B. Manzon Jr., Associate Professor of Accounting, Boston College

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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Kindergarteners in Hebron protest Israel’s detention of 350 children

“If poor people knew how rich rich people are, there would be riots in the streets.”

Measuring the rich-poor gap

American ‘exceptionalism’

Lifting all boats?

Let’s learn the facts

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